Marking, listing, and assorting booth



R. H. TYNER. MARKING, LISTINQ, AND ASSORTING BOOTH. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 28. 1919.

1,349,699. Pa ent d Aug- 17, 1920.

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& Ba 1 w R. H. TYNER. v MARKING, LISTING, AND ASSORTING BOOTH.

APPLICATION FILED OCTa 28| I919.

Patented Aug. 17, 1920.

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l 'lvml' a o I 0.0 .0 00... WOMONOMQMQNQ M Q M lflnmaflmmn UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD H. TYNEiR, 0F CINCINNATI, OHIO.

MARKING, LISTING, AND ASSOBTING BOOTH.

Application filed October 28, 1319. "Serial No. 334,057.

To all whom it may concern lle it known that I, Ri'ormun l'l. TYNER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Marking, Listing, and Asserting Booth, oi which the following is a specification.

It will be understood that in the handling oi articles to be laui'idried in laundries, it has been found difficult to work out an cilicient and economical system oi: hamlling the laundry from the time that it reaches the laundry in the form of bundles until it has been marked, listed, counted. and assorted, so that it is ready to be placed inthe various washing machines handling the lifl'erent classes or goods, which are to be washed.

it will be noticed that it is essential that each piece oi the laundry be permanently and legibly marked as soon as possible after it has been taken from the original lnindle, in order that even though misplaced, no pieces should be lost.

After the laundry is marked, it is then essential. that'an accurate count of the goods in the bundles be made, and preferably that the count include the number oiif pieces in each class of laundry articles, as well as the total number of pieces in the bundle. Next it is important that the laundry be assorted into classes, so that similar articles requiring similar methods of washingshould be placed together. Considerable difficulty has been experienced in the past in thehandling of the laundry through these variousopera' tions, due to the mixing of the pieces of one bundle with those of another, improper marking, failure to acouratelylist and count the number of pieces in each class of articles and the total number of pieces in a bundle, and from the loss of pieces due to inef- 'leotive safe-guards against the pieces being carried away or dropped.

In order to meet the requirements of a laundry and to most e'l'liclently "handle the necessary processes in connecti.onvvith the progress of the laundry from thetlme the bundles are unwrapped until the pieces are classified for Washing in theyarious washing machlnes, I have devisedmy improved I laundry booth to thereby efl'iciently solve the problems.

In, view of the problems mentioned, the

objects of my invention may be stated as follows: to provlde a booth within which the operator may be segregated from the rest of the employees, so that the operatmrs attention may notbe divided, and so that there will be no place into which the pieces of laundry may be dropped or otherwise misplaced, and thereby lost or separated from the restof thepieces of the bundle.

A further object of my invention is to provide such a booth, wherein all the necessary operations may be conveniently performed by a single operator to thereby fix the responsibility for errors, and at the same time elin'iinate the possibility as far as possible of errors.

A further object is to provide a booth,

which is substantially rectangular and inclosed on three sides, but which permits sullicient light for the various operations to enter the booth, no matter \vhichway the light in the building may come from.

1 A further object of my invention to provide a shell outside the booth adapted to have bundles placed thereon, which are to be removed, listed, and assorted, so that the eflort of the operator in moving the bundles into the booth one at a time may belimited to the efi'ort required to pull these bundles laterally along a smooth shelf, thereby eliminating physical. effort as far as possible.

A further object of my invention is to provide within the booth, shelves, tables,

' work-boxes and so forth, which are arranged below the level of the receiving shelf, and at exactly the right height "tor the. convenience of the operator in performing her various duties, and to so arrange the shelves,

work-benches, machines and so forth, so that they are most conveniently placed for instant access.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the cmistructiou, ar rangeinent and combination of the various parts oi. the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a perspective view of my improved booth, the operating machines not being therein shown, in order to more clearly illustrate the construction of the booth.

' Fig. 2 is a longitudinal, vertical, sectional View throughthe booth, the position of the various machines being illustrated in dotted lines.

Fig. 3 is a similar view,show-ing the other side of the booth.

Fig. 4c is an enlarged, detail view of the hanging device for the assorted clothes.

Fig. 5 is a top or plan View, illustrating the construction of these devices; and

Fig. 6 shows an enlarged elevation of the hanging devices.

Referring. to the accompanying drawings, I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate generally a substantially rectangular base adapted to support my booth, and thereby make it an independent unit, capable of being moved to the most advantageous position in the laundry.

Fixed to the base 10, adjacent to the corners thereof are spaced, vertical uprights 11 and '12, which are-adapted to form the four corners'of'my booth. The forward uprights 11. terminate about breast-high and have elbows 13 secured thereto, which receive laterally extending brackets or arms 1%.

The arms ll support a shelf 15, which is preferably composed of wood or light sheet metal, and highly polished on its upper surface to press a minimum resistance to slidinglaundry bundles over it.

The spacebetween the corner posts 11 is filled by a wire grating 16 adapted to permit light .to pass ,therethrough, but of sufliciently small mesh toprevent laundry pieces from being accidentally pushed therethrough.

A similar frame. 17, carrying wire lattice, extends between each of the posts 11 and the adjacent posts 12.

. -It must be seen that the back end of the booth {is left open for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

Brass rods 18 -extend between the, posts 12 and 11 on the sides and front about waisthigh, and help :to render the structure rigid. Extended upwardly from the side brass members 18 about half way between their ends, .are metal posts 19, which are con- .nected attheir ,upper ends by'a transverse rod 20. A similar transverse rod 20 connects the upperendofthe post 12.

Extending between the posts 19 and the posts 1.2- near their upper ends areside brass members 21. Between the brass members :21. and the brass members 18 is extending siding of comparatively.thin wood or light weight sheet metal fora purpose which will hereinafter be set forth.

Extendedforwardly from the post 19 and upwardly from the brass 18 are plate glass side members, which are suitably secured to the braces and posts mentioned, thereby forming a transparent siding for a portion of the booth adapted .to admit light, but to prevent laundry articles orpieces from being pushed therethrough.

At one side of the booth, a shelf is extended for the entire length of the side and disposed at a convenient height for thc operator. This shelf comprises end sections 22 and 23 between which is an open top workbox 24. The rear edge of this shelf is supported on the side brace member 18 adjacent thereto, and the forward edge is supported by posts 25 and 26.

The shelf portion 22 is adapted to support a listing, printing and counting machine. which is indicated by the dotted lines 26*, and which prints :1 list of the articles in a bundle according to classes totaling the articles of each class and the total number of articles.

The shelf 23 is intended to support a marking machine, indicated by the dotted lines 27, which is not described in detail. but is intended to imprint upon a customers laundry articles, a distinctive mark, whereby they may be reassorted, after being washed, into bundles containing all the articles for each customer.

It will be noted that the marking machine is placed at the right hand of the work box 24, which is a box, the upper edges of which are flush with the shelves 22 and 23, and which is adapted to receive a customer's bundle, when it is removed by the operator from the shelf 15. The bundle may then be torn open or unwrapped, the paper thereon thrown outside the booth, and the articles in the bundle will be left loose within the workbox 24:.

On the other side of the booth at the forward corner, is a. comparatively small shell 28, supported by the adjacent portions of the braces 18, in position alined horizontally with the shelves 22 and 23. A space is provided between the adjacent edges of the shelves23 and 28, so that the operator may conveniently step up to the shelf 1:). .whcn she desires to remove a bundle from the latter to place it in the work box 24.

The inner corner of the shelf 28 is supported by a post 25), which is similar in design to the remaining supporting 'iosls of the booth. Mounted on the shelf 28 is a tag sewing machine, indicated by the dotted lines 30 in Fig. 3.

It will be understood without description of the detail construction of this machine, that it is intended to have a roll of tape thereon, which is cut by suitable mechanism on the sewing machine into lengths for laundry tags, and then sewed to laundry articles, so that the marks made by the marking machine 27 may be impressed upon the tag, instead of on the article direct.

It will be understood that there are a definite number of laundry articles, which can not or should not be marked with an impression from a marking machine, as the mark if aflixed directly into the goods of mark would render it unsightly.

the article, would render the article unsightly. In this class of articles are tablecloths, luindkerchiefs, and other garments or articles wherein the entire surface of the article may be exposed to View, so that the The side or siding 31 ad'acent to the shelf 28 is designed to receive columns of laundry hooks, which are somewhat incompletely illustrated in Fig. 3, and illustrated more fully and in detail in Figs; l, 5, and (5. These laundry hooks are mounted in columns on a sheet metal back, which is formed by corrugating the sheet metal back ing vertically to form a plurality of outwardly opening channels 32, having side walls The hooks are pivotally mounted in these side walls and are two-piece devices, comprising a loop of wire 34, having its ends bent to extend into the side walls .33, whereby the outer end of the loop 34: may

be permitted to swing in a vertical plane. The end of the loop 34 is bent down to form a tab at 35. The second part of the hook devices comprises a loop 36, which has its ends similarly turned out at 37 to be pivotally received in the side walls 33 in position spaced downwardly from the pivotal points or'ends from the loops 34, and has formed therein intermediate of its ends an eye 38 at either side, designed to be slidably mounted upon the sides 01 the loop 34. The end of the loop 36 is also bent down to form a tab 39.

From the construction of the parts just described, it will be seen that if the ends of the hooks are moved upwardly, then the swinging of the hooks upon the spaced pivoted points will tend to separate the tabs 35 and 39, as is indicated in Fig. 4 by the dotted lines.

When an article is designed to be secured in one of these hook members, the article is grasped in the hand in such position, that as the hook members are swung from a substantially vertical position down to a horizontal position, then the approaching tabs 35 and 39. will grip the article or gar ment between them, so that the weight of the garment will tend to pull downwardly onthe hooks, thereby forcing the tabs 35 and 39 together, and making the gripping force oi? these tabs automatically proportionate to the weight of the garment. When it is desired to release all of the garments upon a given column of hooks, the hand is moved upwardly along one side of the column oil hooks to thereby bring the thumb or a linger in contact with some portion of the hooks, successively in the column, which raises the outer end of the hooks, spreads the tabs 3% and 39 and thereby permits the garments upon these hooks to fall down. These garments may either be grasped as they fall by the hand of the operator and thrown into a suitable receptacle disposed at the open rear end of the booth, or, ii? de-- sired, a receptacle may be placed below the hook rack to receive the garments.

"An advantage o'l. my improved construction i'esides in the fact that l have provided a booth, which separates the operator from the remaining space oi the room within which the booth is placed, so that the danger that articles will be lost is substantially eliminated. The operators attention is not so readily distracted from the work, and the possibility of errors is therefore naturally lessened.

The various shelves, rack and work box are so placed, as to be most convenient for the use of the operator in the various opera-- tions which must be performed, if laundry articles are to be unmistakably and accurately marked, counted, listed and, assorted or classified.

It will be noted that the work receiving shelf 15 is located outside of the booth, so that new bundles to be operated upon may be placed there from time to time without in any way interfering with the work oil? theoperator. Further, the parts are so arranged, that it is perfectly convenient for the operator to work on but one bundle at a time, thereby substantially eliminating danger of mixing different customers articlos and the various machines for accomplishing the necessary operations may be placed. in the positions in which they will be most convenient for the. respective operations.

For instance, the marking machine, which is the most difficult of operations, and which requires both hands for operating is placed directly to the right of the operator when she picks up an article from an unwrapped bundle from the work box for markin This operation must or should be performed first and the machine for performing it should therefore be arranged most conveniently for the operators use, as handling unmarked articles, has a natural tendency to allow errors, and consequently loss of the articles.

Next the counting and listing machine is placed to the left of the operator, directly at one side of the work box, so that the articles may first be marked, then listed without the operator moving her feet before said articles are hung upon the hooks of the assorting rack.

The next most natural motion of the operator is to turn around to the right, so that the next most important process is performed in that position,'which consists of placing the articles upon the asserting hooks, which are disposed on the opposite side of the booth from the work box.

There are comparatively few articles which must be taped, so that the tape may receive the mark instead of the article, so that the least important operation is placed in the least accessible position in the booth.

vide large baskets, which are mounted upon caster wheels and ii; is intended that such a basket or baskets should be readily available, so that one may be moved up to the rearv side of my improved booth and close the rear side,.and at the same time be a convenient means for carrying away the as sorted, marked and listed articles.

some changes may be made in the arrangements and construction ofthe various parts of my improved device without departing from the essential features and purposes of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which may come within their reasonable scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a laundry marking, counting, listing and assorting booth, base, a substantially rectangular booth open at one end, a shelf disposed substantially breast-high and extending outwardly from the booth at the end opposite the Open end, a work box disposed intermediate of the ends of one side with its upper edges disposed substantially waist-high, machine supporting shelves at either end ofthe work box, a third machine supporting shelf disposed in the end adjacent to the first described shelf and the side opposite the work box, and a hook rack disposed on the second side of the booth adjacent to the open end thereof.

2. In a booth for marking, enumerating and asserting laundry, a substantially rectangular base, posts extended upwardly therefrom adjacent to *ach corner, transparent closure members extended between said I posts on the sides, and at one end a shelf extending laterally from the booth at the closed end adapted to receive unopened bundles of laundry, a work box disposed intermediate of the ends of one side of the booth adapted to receive the bundles from the bundle receiving shelf one at a time, a shelf at the right-hand end of the work box adapted to receive a marking machine, a shelf at the lefthand end of the work box adapted to receive a counting and listing machine, a shelf adjacent to the bundle receiving shelf, and the side opposite the work box adapted to receive a sewing and. taping inaehinc, and a rack disposed on the last described side adjacent to the open end of the booth adapted to receive asserting hooks. Des Moines, Iowa. September 30. 19111 RICHARD H. TYNER. 

